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LifeNews.com Note: Susan Yoshihara, Ph.D. writes for the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute. This article originally appeared in the pro-life group's Friday Fax publication and is used with permission. Copenhagen, Denmark (LifeNews.com/CFAM) -- Former United States representative to the United Nations (UN) John Bolton recently warned that the failure to reach a legally-binding treaty on climate change in Copenhagen may make the outcome document more dangerous to national interests in the long term.“Precisely because many states will see a document only politically rather than legally binding as less consequential, their guard will be down,” the former diplomat said in...

LifeNews.com Note: Susan Yoshihara, Ph.D. writes for the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute. This article originally appeared in the pro-life group's Friday Fax publication and is used with permission. New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) recently released its annual performance report for 2008-2009. Despite an economic downturn and a slight decrease in annual income, the abortion industry giant boasts of increased activity across all of its lines of work -- including condom distribution, advocacy and abortion services.IPPF’s overall income for 2008 was US$119.7 million, down from over $120 million the previous year. While IPPF's...

Neighborhood protest of Senator's home will show the truth about the results of taxpayer funded abortion Contact: Troy Newman, President, 316-841-1700; Cheryl Sullenger, Senior Policy Advisor, 316-516-3034; both with Operation Rescue, info@operationrescue.org  OMAHA, Neb., Jan. 1 /Christian Newswire/ -- An abortion protest featuring Operation Rescue's Truth Truck will be conducted on New Year's Day near the Omaha home of Sen. Ben Nelson. The protest against Nelson's scheme for tax-funded abortions will be held on January 1, 2010, in the neighborhood of 9735 Fieldcrest Drive in Omaha, Nebraska, beginning at 2 PM, Central Time. "The Pro-Life Movement will be making Sen. Nelson aware of our New Year's Resolution....

On Wednesday, the staff at Anaheim Medical Center became suspicious of the story given them by Juana Perez Valencia, 19, who though showing all of the signs, claimed she had not just given birth. Orange County deputies arrived and questioned her, eventually finding the corpse of her newborn daughter in the dumpster behind Sombrero’s restaurant, where Valencia works as a waitress. Apparently, Valencia gave birth to the girl on Tuesday night in the restaurant’s bathroom, and allegedly placed the baby into a plastic bag, before tossing her into the dumpster. An autopsy concluded that the baby had in fact been...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- When football fans watch the Super Bowl next year, they may see a pro-life ad from Focus on the Family focusing on the mother of potential future NFL star Tim Tebow. Tebow is the Heisman Trophy winner and University of Florida star quarterback whose mother decided not to abort him in a crisis pregnancy. The Super Bowl ad would be costly -- as a spot during the game and three 30-second commercials before it would reportedly run about $4 million -- but provides a unique exposure to a large national and international audience.The ad, according to...

Metropolitan Medical Associates in Englewood, among the state’s largest abortion clinics, reached a $1.9 million settlement with a woman who suffered massive hemorrhaging, a coma, a stroke and a hysterectomy after she had an abortion at the facility in 2007.  The incident led to an inspection by the state, which shut the facility down for more than a month until improvements were made.  The settlement includes $1 million from the facility, $575,000 from one of the doctors involved in the case and $325,000 from another doctor who had assisted. The settlement was first reported in the New Jersey Law Journal.Rasheedah...

The celebrations have begun already in Sydney, Australia where 1.5 million people participated in massive fireworks displays and festivities. Final preparations are being made in Times Square, New York where authorities are expecting the largest crowd in the history of such New Years gatherings. At midnight, the ball will drop and a massive crowd will welcome a New Year with the sincere hope that it will offer them a new beginning. The experience is nearly universal. Some Nations use different calendars, but the passing of one year to another is marked by a deliberate period of reflection over the past...

Senator Charles Grassley is confirming the expectation that the conference committee that will meet to reconcile the differences in the congressional health care bills will be dominated by abortion advocates. If so, the Senate language funding abortions may emerge in the final legislation. With the House and Senate approving divergent bills, a conference committee must meet to hammer out the final measure for each chamber to vote on before it can go to President Barack Obama. The Senate measure current funds abortions and paves the way for forcing insurance companies to pay for abortions while the House measure has the...

It is alarming to realize the nonchalance on the part of many concerning abortion. But it is not new. A popular newsmagazine quoted one medical opinion: "Abortion is finding its place as a perfectly acceptable and valid health measure. We no longer think of it as a crime."

Pro-Abortion Group Nominates Personhood USA to Abortion “Hall of Shame� Personhood USA Washington , D.C.– The National Abortion Rights Action League has announced its nominees for a 2009 “Hall of Shame� – those who posed the greatest threat to abortion in America . Among a list of noteworthy pro-life individuals  - all politicians – the only pro-life organization nominated is Personhood USA, a grassroots Christian organization founded to establish personhood efforts across America . “We at Personhood USA are honored to be considered one of the top four threats to abortion in America ,� commented Keith Mason, co-founder of Personhood...

Are you Pro-Choice (defined as being in favor of killing babies prior to birth)? Are you Pro-Life (defined as being opposed to the killing of unborn babies)? Are you undecided? Does it matter with the new health care bill? It does if you do not want to pay for it with your tax dollars. You see, this is not about the moral and ethical issues of abortion, it is about the fiscal responsibility of health care.

LifeNews.com Note: Maria Vitale is an opinion columnist for LifeNews.com. She is the Public Relations Director for the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation and Vitale has written and reported for various broadcast and print media outlets, including National Public Radio, CBS Radio, and AP Radio. It's gotten to the point where I have to turn my head away when I hear the opening bars of music. The haunting melody is the soundtrack for a tear-jerker of a commercial for the Humane Society. Images after images of abused pets appear on the screen. As the joyful owner of a tabby, I find portrait...

Jerusalem, Israel (LifeNews.com) -- The top two Jewish rabbis in Israel sent a letter on Monday to their colleagues denouncing abortion. They said that abortion kills thousands of Israeli babies a year and delays the coming of the Messiah and they promised to do more to promote pro-life and pregnancy help efforts. Rabbis Yona Metzger and Shlomo Amar sent a letter yesterday to all of the state-employed Jewish rabbis saying they would "strengthen" the efforts of the pro-life council in the rabbinate to help reduce abortions.The letter says "the vast majority of abortions are unnecessary and Halacha severely prohibits...

Lincoln, NE (LifeNews.com) -- Until his recent sellout on abortion funding, Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson was a darling of the pro-life movement as the lone consistent pro-life Democrat in the Senate. Now, a new poll shows him losing massive support and he would lose by a lopsided margin in his 2012 bid for re-election. A new Rasmussen Reports survey shows Nelson struggling after becoming the 60th and deciding vote for the Senate's pro-abortion health care bill. Should pro-life Republican Governor Dave Heineman challenge Nelson for his Senate seat, a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey shows he would get 61% of...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The rift between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Catholic Church will likely grow thanks to new comments the abortion advocate made. Pelosi said in a new interview that the "free will" of women wanting abortions outweighs pro-life Catholic teachings. Newsweek's Eleanor Clift conducted a year-end interview with Pelosi. The conversation turned to the topic of abortion and health care and Pelosi blasted the Catholic bishops for their opposition to the pro-abortion bill. She tells Clift it was frustrating that Catholic bishops "were not willing to accept what we know to be a fact" -- that...

In an interview with Newsweek's Eleanor Clift, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi criticized the Church for its position on abortion and gays rights and stated that her Bishop has "tried to change my mind" Pelosi responds to questions about abortion in the health-care bill and her insistence that the original pre-Stupak bill did not fund abortion and says of the Bishops "they are not willing to accept facts." It was reported that you were negotiating with the conference of bishops. I talked to one of the cardinals. I said to him that I believe that what we are doing...

This audio clip is from one of my recent shows, in which a caller wanted (I think) to publicly put me on the spot over why I "de-friended" him on my Facebook page. As you'll hear, the reason was because of something he said to some of the women there about their having had an abortion. The problem was that he branded such women as "murderers" because 1) abortion is murder and 2) they had aborted one or more of their children. His logic is correct, at least in a sense, because abortion is murder. But the way he put...

Poll: Nelson's Abortion Funding Compromise Costs Him With Nebraska Voters Lincoln, NE -- Until his recent sellout on abortion funding, Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson was a darling of the pro-life movement as the lone consistent pro-life Democrat in the Senate. Now, a new poll shows him losing massive support and he would lose by a lopsided margin in his 2012 bid for re-election. http://www.lifenews.com/state4684.html

A death notice has been published in several Spanish daily newspapers for all the "innocent victims" of abortion, where lawmakers earlier this month approved a bill to liberalise the procedure. The notice bearing a black cross for the "boys and girls" who "died in Spain during 2009 victims of abortion" appeared in the obituary pages of right-wing newspapers ABC, El Mundo and La Razon. "Prayers, masses, sacrifices and charity works are requested for the eternal rest of their souls and for the salvation of those who, directly or indirectly, actively or passively, were responsible for these deaths," the notice added....

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama promised Americans in a speech to Congress that his version of a government-run health care bill would not contain abortion funding. Now his top spokesman confirms that Obama favors the Senate bill that funds abortions over the House bill that bans abortion funding.In a September nationally-televised speech to Congress, Obama sought to clear up projections from pro-life advocates that his health care plan would fund abortions."One more misunderstanding I want to clear up -- under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions," Obama claimed.Since his speech, the House...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Most of the focus on the Senate last week revolved around the pro-abortion government-run health care bill the chamber passed on Christmas Eve. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans and Democrats squabbled over a pro-abortion nominee President Barack Obama as put forward for a crucial legal position. Dawn Johnsen, a law professor at Indiana University who is a former legal counsel for the pro-abortion group NARAL, is Obama's selection to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel.Her nomination has been delayed by Republicans who oppose her because she is strongly pro-abortion -- going as far as saying...

At a huge rally in the capital, Cardinal Antonio Rouco, the leader of Spain's Roman Catholics, told protesters the birth rate in Europe will be depleted unless Christian values are maintained.Catholics attended a huge open air mass beside Real Madrid's Bernabeu stadium.The mass marked the Feast of the Holy Family. But Catholic leaders from across Europe joined their local counterparts and members of the Spanish centre-Right opposition to castigate the socialist government's policies."Europe will be practically without children," warned Cardinal Rouco, 73, the conservative Archbishop of Madrid. "Who denies to defend a human being so innocent and weak, already conceived...

Obama Prefers Senate Health Care Bill With Abortion Funding Washington, DC -- President Barack Obama promised Americans in a speech to Congress that his version of a government-run health care bill would not contain abortion funding. Now his top spokesman confirms that Obama favors the Senate bill that funds abortions over the House bill that bans abortion funding. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5820.html

(snip) On abortion and religion ROMNEY: I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country. I have since the time that my mom took that position when she ran in 1970 as a US Senate candidate. I believe that since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years we should sustain and support it. . . . I think the low point of this race was when my opponent and their family decided to make religion an issue in this campaign. Brought it out, attacked me for it. I think that's a mistake. I think...

She was dragged into a room to be forcibly aborted with “hundreds of pregnant moms … just like pigs in the slaughterhouse,” Wujian, a Chinese student in the US, told a congressional human rights commission in Washington on Nov. 10. “He must speak up for us, for our lives, for our human rights. He must speak now,” she pleaded. He — US President Barack Obama — was in Beijing this week for talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and other senior Chinese officials. Coming on the heels of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s infamous remark made en route...

The democrat's Supreme Court ruled abortion was legal throughout the United States despite state laws regulating individually by "inventing" (re-defining) a patient's "right to privacy" in medical terms. That is, by re-defining the natural "right to privacy" for matters between a doctor and patient as a reason for REMOVING a specific specially-selected form of medical treatment (abortion) from state regulation in Roe vs Wade by a narrow 5-4 vote on ideological lines, the socialists/democrats on the Supreme Court moved medicine from state control to national control. Well, more accurately, they moved it from state control into national "illegal to control"...

A non-partisan, black, *CHRISTIAN* woman publicly repents for voting for Obama despite his pro-abortion record. She explains why she was deceived and reaffirms her committment to putting Christ first. Before race. Before politics.

When the Senate and House agree on a health care bill and if our tax money pays for ana portion directly or indirectly, I will revolt by not paying my personal taxes. I will prefer going to prison than have even one cent of my income pay for an abortion. I have been praying about this and other issues that affect my pro-life principles. If I call myself pro-life, then I must act on these principles in a way that will change my comfort level to the point of suffering. How many of us have fought with money and time...

Washington (CNSNews.com) – Six senators, including former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), when asked if it is morally right to take tax dollars from pro-life Americans to pay for health insurance plans that cover abortion, did not answer the question directly, but instead expressed their thoughts about the Senate health-care legislation. The Senate health-care bill at present mandates that the Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary make certain that at least one health-care plan in the government exchanges -- where people will use tax money to buy health insurance -- covers elective abortions. At the U.S. Capitol, CNSNews.com...

In 1897, a cute little girl, Virginia O'Hanlon - age eight - wrote to the New York Sun, a now defunct newspaper owned by two men who were sons of a Baptist minister. Needless to say, newspaper publishers made more of a religious impact back then than the NY Times - the Atheists Bible - does today. Virginia simply asked the NY Sun's editors to tell her if there was "really a Santa Claus?" The Sun's answer is not bad, but mine, I think, is better: Dear Jenny, I know that you have been wondering whether there is a Santa...

Senator Bob Casey Jr. (D - PA), who came to office as a pro-life Democrat in 2006 under the banner that he would continue his father's fight in pro-life causes has turned out to be pretty disappointing. When asked by the Washington Times on Tuesday what he thought his father, the late Bob Casey Sr., former governor of Pennsylvania from 1987 to 1995, would think of the abortion issue in the health care bill.: "I have no way of knowing. We’re dealing with something here which is unusual and unprecedented. We’ve had year to year appropriation bills where the Hyde...

She kept it secret for seven months and now she's finally speaking out. On Thursday, Governor Sarah Palin sat down to answer questions about the new addition to her family.

Ben Nelson Attacks Pro-Life Advocates, Defends Pro-Abortion Compromise Washington, DC -- Facing an enormous backlash for becoming the 60th vote for a health care bill that his language allows to fund abortions, Ben Nelson is striking back. In comments both on and off the Senate floor yesterday and today, Nelson lashed out at pro-life advocates and is defending his much-maligned compromise. http://www.LifeNews.com/state4677.html

A leaked memo sent by an oil industry group reveals a plan to create astroturf rallies at which industry employees posing as "citizens" will urge Congress to oppose climate change legislation. The memo -- sent by the American Petroleum Institute and obtained by Greenpeace, which sent it to reporters -- urges oil companies to recruit their employees for events that will "put a human face on the impacts of unsound energy policy," and will urge senators to "avoid the mistakes embodied in the House climate bill."

The Senate health care bill is dead on arrival in the House of Representatives unless major changes are made, including removal of special “carve outs” for Medicaid funding for certain states and inclusion of language barring taxpayer-funded health plans that cover abortions, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) told CNSNews.com on Tuesday. Faced with the possibility that House Democratic leaders and the White House will try to force the U.S. House to accept “as is” the health care bill that the Senate is poised to pass on Christmas Eve, the pro-life Democrat said the Senate bill differs too much from the version...

If only Harry Reid was capable of a Grinch-like epiphany. Senate Democrats are celebrating this morning for passing their version of health care reform, but voters still don’t like much of what they see. At the start of the week, 41% of voters nationwide were in favor of the health care bill, but 55% were opposed. This is the fifth straight week with support for the legislation between 38% and 41%. Rasmussen Report is continuing to track support for the plan on a weekly basis and will have new numbers on Monday morning. Part of the opposition comes from a...

Sen. Ben Nelson said Wednesday he's convinced language he negotiated in the health care reform bill assures no public funds can be used to pay for abortions. "I did not compromise my pro-life principles," he said. "We just found different language that will work." Nelson helped negotiate the provision after failing to win Senate approval of an amendment that would match restrictive abortion language in the House bill. Nebraska Right to Life Executive Director Julie Schmit-Albin subsequently condemned the compromise and accused Nelson of betraying the pro-life organization, which endorsed his re-election in 2006. The three Catholic bishops in Nebraska...

WASHINGTON – As the U.S. Senate prepares to pass a historic health care bill early today, California's two Democratic senators find themselves facing something of a dilemma. The problem: Even though Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein have consistently backed abortion rights, both are ready to cast votes that are guaranteed to anger abortion-rights groups. The reason: The $871 billion bill includes language that critics say will restrict the right to abortions. Much of the criticism is aimed at Boxer, who took a leadership role in negotiations over the final bill. She decided to accept the new language only when it...

    For Immediate Release December 19, 2009 Contact:  Michelle Begnoche(202) 225-4735 STUPAK STATEMENT ON SENATE ABORTION LANGUAGE WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Menominee) issued the following statement regarding to the abortion language provisions in the Senate health care bill: “While I appreciate the efforts of all the parties involved, especially Senator Ben Nelson, the Senate abortion language is not acceptable.  I will continue to work with my colleagues on this issue as the process moves forward.  A review of the Senate language indicates a dramatic shift in federal policy that would allow the federal government to subsidize insurance policies...

After Senator Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) announced Saturday that he had decided to support the amended health bill that allows federal funding of abortion, he set to work defending the decision in terms more familiar on the lips of his liberal colleagues: emphasizing the need for a compromise, and highlighting the greater good of the health of millions of Americans. Yet Nelson left behind a still-reeling pro-life and conservative constituency questioning what could have prompted the sudden change in the senator - who days before seemed so placidly settled in his convictions against the bill, particularly regarding abortion. The tension leading...

As a kid, Corrina Gura was fascinated by babies. She remembers visiting the specimens of preserved human embryos and fetuses on display in the Prenatal Development exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry with her parents. When her aunt was pregnant, she asked if she could rest her hand on her aunt's belly. Those experiences years ago helped shape Gura's current belief that a baby's life begins at conception. "All it needs is a place to grow and food, and it will survive, which is what I need," said Gura, who lives in Skokie and works as a projects...

I received this question from a friend on Facebook: So, Jill, what happened with Nelson? You and other pro-life leaders were advising people to be "calm" and to thank him, and all indications now are that he prostituted his vote like so many others. How do you know who to trust? My friend was speaking about a blog post I wrote Dec. 11 encouraging pro-lifers to maintain support of Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb. In that post I relayed an e-mail received from Democrats for Life's president, Kristen Day, assuring everyone Nelson was unwavering in his refusal to vote for any...

Senator Bob Casey, who is still awaiting his much needed spine implentation surgery, is saying he's more pro-life than you. Yup. He went there. Taking a cue from Patrick Kennedy who accused the Church of not being pro-life because it didn't want federal funding of abortion, Casey took his turn at bat. In an interview with Greta Van Susteren Senator Bob Casey called out pro-life conservatives for...well not being as pro-life as he is: Casey: After all, if you really say you're pro-life, you should want to cover 31 million Americans and provide all kinds of preventative services that will...

Here's my latest for NewsRealblog. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius spoke with a representative from BlogHer, about abortion coverage in the health care bill soon to be approved by the U.S. Senate. Sebelius was very blunt with BlogHer’s Morra Aarons-Mele: Senators Barbara Boxer and Patty Murray (both Democrats of course) have come up with a rather ingenious way to force Americans to contribute to a separate fund for abortion coverage. No exceptions will be allowed. Unsurprisingly, the mainstream media have ignored this video thus far. Without Breitbart.tv and VerumSerum most of us wouldn’t have known about the...

WH requested Stupak 'not say anything' on abortion, congressman says By Tony Romm - 12/23/09 02:36 PM ET Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) said Tuesday the White House asked him to "hold off for a while and not say anything" about the abortion language in the Senate's healhtcare bill. The Obama administration reportedly asked the Michigan congressman to withhold judgement on the provision until "they [had] a chance to try to sell me the language," he explained -- a request Stupak later said he denied. "I don’t need to have a conference with the White House," Stupak told CNSnews.com. "I have...

December 21, 2009, 3:45 p.m. Can Stupak Save the Democrats?By the Editors Pregnancy is not a disease. Hence abortion, in the vast majority of cases, is not health care. Contemporary liberalism is ideologically committed to denying this truth. Fifty-one percent of Americans contacted in a recent poll said that private health insurance should not cover abortion. One hundred percent of Senate Democrats just voted for legislation that, in the process of remaking American health care, creates new subsidies for health policies that do cover it. If this bill passes, abortion will become a cheaper option for millions of women....

If we adopt the compassion of time rather than that of cash, we are not trying to do the same thing as liberals, only a bit more cheaply. Instead, we must ask of every idea that calls itself compassionate, "Does it make great demands on men (and women) to give themselves to their brethren?" Are we offering not coerced silver, but our lives? If we talk of crisis pregnancies, are we actually willing to provide a home to a pregnant young woman? If we talk of abandoned children, are we actually willing to adopt a child? We need to ask...

Stupak: Obama Admin Bullying Me to Accept Abortion Funding in Health Care Washington, DC -- Congressman Bart Stupak, the pro-life Democrat who has been the consistent champion against abortion funding in the health care bill, says the Obama administration is trying to bully him. Stupak says in a new interview that he will not back down in the face of pressure from the White House. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5810.html

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is upset about abortion. Well, not abortion per se. But some abortions. Of girls. Apparently killing boys is okay. Abortion is one issue that is not amenable to easy political compromise. But the issue can't be avoided.